


Suspicion

by StarryIllusion



Category: Vampire Academy & Related Fandoms, Vampire Academy Series - Richelle Mead
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-23 09:43:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9650153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarryIllusion/pseuds/StarryIllusion
Summary: Set after frostbite. What if someone saw Rose and Dimitri kissing in the gym? What if they took it the wrong way and reported it?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Cross posted to FFN. Feedback makes me do embarrassing little happy dances. Hint hint.

Rose POV

Beep. Beep. Beep.

I groaned and rolled over groping blindly for the offending device and slapping at it in an effort to stop the horrendous noise. When it stopped I lay there for a moment trying to collect my thoughts and figure out why it was going off at such an ungodly hour. Then it hit me. Dimitri had sent a note asking me to show up half an hour early for this mornings training session saying that he had something to talk to me about.

Groaning again I rolled out of bed. I felt mildly better at the thought of seeing him but it was still way too early. I showered and got dressed in a complete daze only waking up by the time I was brushing my teeth and hair and finally grabbed my workout bag before heading to the gym.

I had to run the last few minutes to get there on time but at least it woke me up a little. This, I reflected grimly, was just going to be one of those days. I was actually on the verge of slapping myself in an attempt to get some kind of grip; Dimitri was going to hand my ass to me on a plate if I tried to spar with him like this.

Giving up on any thought of getting myself together before noon I entered our usual training room and threw my bag into a corner, looking around hopefully to see if the dummies were set up. They weren't; so much for my hopes of doing some staking before Alto's class.

Looking over to Dimitri I finally noticed that there was someone else in the room. The guy was quite tall with light brown hair and an expression that made him look as though he had just tasted something extremely unpleasant. I shot Dimitri a questioning look wondering who the guy was. He looked official, dressed in a black suit with a white shirt and plain tie which to me spoke volumes about his personality.

It was then that I noticed Dimitri's expression. He was wearing what I liked to call his guardian mask but underneath that I could see that he was pretty shaken up and uneasy; his posture stiff and tense like he wanted out of the room.

"Who are you?" I asked, maybe not as politely as I could've done. But hey, Dimitri looked like someone had just sucker punched him in the gut and just looking at the guy was making me nervous.

He looked back at me levelly. "Miss Hathaway I presume?"

"Who wants to know?" I shot back, knowing full well I had gone past the point of being prickly and irritable and was being downright rude. Something about the way he was looking at me was setting off alarm bells.

He didn't dignify my rudeness with a response but rather turned back to Dimitri and said, with certain smugness in his voice. "Well, rumours of her attitude certainly aren't over exaggerated are they, Guardian Belikov?"

Dimitri looked like he wanted to say something but was thinking better of it. I moved to stand next to him; somehow feeling like we were under attack and wanting to show a united front. The man gave us a slightly oily smile and said to Dimitri. "I will arrange for your sessions to be monitored. Obviously we aren't condemning you on the say so of one student but we have to take this kind of accusation seriously you know."

Dimitri nodded stiffly like he didn't trust himself to speak and the man left the room. I let out a long whoosh of breath I had been holding and turned to look at him.

"What a creep." I muttered. "What did he mean anyway? When he said about taking accusations seriously?"

Dimitri hadn't spoken since I came in and although his shoulders had dropped a little and he was slightly more relaxed, I was getting a little worried about him.

"Hey, Comrade, are you okay?"

He raised his eyes to mine and spoke.

"Someone saw us."

Okay now I was really worried. Did he expect me to know what he meant? I was tempted for a second to remind him that despite my awesome skills, mind reading wasn't one of them but he looked so freaked out that the words died in my throat.

"Saw what? You aren't making any sense here."

"They saw us in here that day after your mom punched you. They saw us kissing. They suspect I was forcing you."

I just about had a heart attack when he said that; a million questions were running through my mind at once. Who saw us? Why did they report it? Who else knew? Why would they think he was forcing me? Then it hit me.

Dimitri had been pinning me to the wall when I kissed him after I had been jabbing him and telling him he didn't care about me. From the back it really could have looked like he was the aggressor.

The next words out of my mouth I felt summed up the situation perfectly. "Oh, fucking Hell!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mason is alive and well in this story just in case you get confused by having mentions of him in the story. I like to think he was just knocked out instead of killed.

Rose POV

I spent the rest of the day on tenterhooks, waiting to be called into Kirova's office for questioning. I knew I would be, it was just a matter of time and the waiting was hell. If you asked me what I was supposed to be learning or even who was teaching it I honestly couldn't have told you. To make matters worse Dimitri was going to great effort to avoid me as much as possible which in my opinion made him look guilty as sin.

It was 5th period by time someone came to get me. It was a Guardian, an Irish guy whom I vaguely recognised and I think his name was Ciaran. Not someone I knew particularly well which I supposed was a good thing because he didn't try to make conversation on the way to Kirova's office.

Dimitri was already there when I went in; he was sitting in a chair in front of the desk looking like he would rather be anywhere else in the world. I took the seat next to him, trying to look as though I had no idea what was going on. He wasn't supposed to have told me about why the guy, whom I now realised, had been from the school board, had been there and had actually told me, in one of his shocking moments of not avoiding me, to deny all knowledge of what we were accused of.

Kirova sat down behind her desk and regarded us with a serious expression.

"Rose, I'm assuming you don't know why you're here?" She gave Dimitri a questioning glance to which he simply shook his head.

"Right, okay, well it's quite serious. We have received a rather worrying report from one of your fellow students about something that allegedly happened during one of your training sessions."

I struggled to keep an innocent expression on my face despite the fact that my heart was hammering in my chest and quickly laced my fingers together to hide their shaking.

She was waiting; apparently hoping one of us would react in some way. When neither of us did she continued.

"The student informed us that he saw you kissing." She hesitated slightly to let that bombshell hit fully before dropping the next one.

"He also claims that it looked as though you were being pressured by Guardian Belikov."

I let my mouth drop open in feigned shock and stared at her before turning to Dimitri.

"Is this what that guy was talking about this morning?! About accusations?" I deserved an Oscar for that performance I really did; and Dimitri looked suitably harassed as he replied in the affirmative and muttered something about pushy students never dropping the subject.

I was just starting to wonder if we might actually get away with this, thanks, of course, to my awesome acting skills, when Kirova asked Dimitri if he minded stepping outside for a moment.

He left without argument, not that he could have really protested anyway and Kirova turned to face me.

"Rose, I really have to ask you. Has Guardian Belikov, at any point kissed you or pressured you to kiss him?"

"No!" I almost shouted it.

"Has he ever tried to touch you or asked you to touch him?"

"Yes, he asked me to give him a blowjob in the supply room cos he's into younger girls." Her mouth dropped open and I looked at her in disgust.

"God, No. He would never do anything like that!" I shouted, unable to believe she had taken my sarcasm seriously even for a second.

"Rose, this is not a joking matter. You must tell me the truth!"

I stared back at her. "No, he never kissed me or pressured me or touched me in any way."

She sighed. "Fine, you can go back to class. Send Guardian Belikov in on your way out."

I got up and left quickly trying not to let her see how much I was shaking.

Dimitri got up as I came out and caught me by the shoulders. He didn't say anything but looked concerned.

"She wants to talk to you." I told him keeping my voice steady.

He gave me a reassuring smile and squeezed my shoulders before stepping past me into the office.

"Go to class." He called over his shoulder.

Needless to say I didn't go back to class. It was pretty much the last thing I wanted to do. There weren't many places I could go really though, not if I didn't want to get stopped and asked why I wasn't in class having my brain rotted learning algebra. I ended up going back to my dorm and climbing out the window to sit on the flat roof above it. I knew Dimitri would find me there pretty easily if he wanted to and right now he was the only person I wanted to be able to find me.

I wasn't out there long before he tracked me down. The roof was pretty much the only place you could get any privacy at St Vlads and I had mentioned it to him before. He negotiated the slippery tile easily and came to sit next to me.

"Are you alright?" He asked quietly.

I managed a weak smile. "I just wish I knew who it was. Then I could pound some sense into them. How could anyone think you would...?"

"Even if it didn't look like you were being pressured I'd still be in a lot of trouble. I'm seven years older than you, Rose. At 17 years old that's a big gap. I'm in a position of trust as your mentor and I'm abusing it."

He sounded so angry and self loathing that I reached out and grabbed his hand.

"Don't. You aren't abusing anything, least of all me." I forced a grin. "If I remember right if was me that practically raped you anyway."

That got a small smile out of him. "I didn't exactly put up a fight to remember, did I?"

We both laughed a little then grew serious again.

"I'm sorry, Comrade."

"For what?"

"Getting you into this whole shitty situation. You never wanted this."

He gave a surprised chuckle. "I thought we established that day that I most certainly did want this. Though I could live without the threat of a lawsuit."

I felt tears welling up and quickly wiped at the traitorous drops of moisture before he could see them. I felt an arm slide around my shoulders pulling me against the sweater that I had been trying very hard not to notice the fit of all day. I leaned into his chest and pressed my cheek into the soft wool, trying to calm down a little before I burst into tears and embarrassed myself. After a few seconds my breathing evened out and tears stopped threatening.

Dimitri tightened his hold for a second and then let go.

"Come on." He said, getting up. "Let's get down from here. We've been up here too long as it is and getting caught hiding out on a roof isn't going to help my case."

We went down the same way he came up which was through a classroom window and slipped out into the corridor while it was clear. I felt an irrepressible urge to laugh at ourselves sneaking around like ninjas. My laughter was abruptly cut short however by Alberta's sharp voice behind us.

"Rose Hathaway, why are you out of class?"

I swore.


	3. Chapter 3

Rose POV

I turned slowly to face Alberta, praying that my face wouldn't immediately condemn me.

Dimitri quickly placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed firmly in warning.

"Alberta, don't look at me like that." He said sounding a little irritated. "This entire mess is ridiculous."

She raised her eyebrows at him. "I want to believe you Dimitri but sneaking around in empty classes with a student you have been accused of sexually assaulting... Well it looks a bit suspicious."

"She wanted to talk, Alberta, this is all very upsetting and it's hardly the kind of thing we can discuss in the corridor."

Alberta just looked at us for several beats and then turned to me. "Are you alright?"

I nodded. "I just wanted to talk to him. I didn't mean to get him into trouble." I kept my voice meek in the hope we could win her over.

"All right, I believe you." She said, finally. "But don't do it again; it really does look bad."

I nodded quickly, relieved that we hadn't been caught by someone else. Dimitri gave my shoulder another squeeze and gently pushed me ahead of him.

"It'll be okay I promise but you really need to go to class now."

I slipped past Alberta, glancing back at Dimitri as I headed towards Slavic Arts and the joy that awaited me with Stan Alto.

The rest of the day passed in a blur of faces and classrooms and people yelling at me to pay attention. I was pulled out of 7th period, my last class of the day thank God, to see a counsellor who asked seriously disturbing questions about our practise sessions and whether or not we had ever engaged in any illicit activities. Naturally I lied through my teeth. Then she started asking questions which were harder to answer.

"You're very defensive of him. You get angry when I ask questions about his conduct. Why?"

Crap, how was I supposed to answer that one? I could hardly tell her because I'm in love with him and you guys are making it increasingly difficult for me to get five minutes of privacy in which to test that conduct. No, that wasn't going to do.

"I guess because I feel like everyone's attacking him; he wouldn't ever do what they're accusing him of and no one is giving him a chance. He gave me a chance when everyone else wanted me kicked out but no one's giving him one. I put him through a lot of shit since he took me on but he stuck with me and I toed the line because I owe it to him and this is what he gets for reining in the problem student!" I hadn't realised my voice was getting louder and now I was nearly shouting.

Deirdre was looking at me speculatively and finally got a word in. "So you feel that this is your fault in a way? That if he hadn't taken a chance on you none of this would have happened."

Whoa, how the hell did she come up with that from my rant at the higher ups.

"You seem very fond of him."

I glared at her. "Yeah well, I can count on one hand the other people who stuck by me and he isn't even a relative."

"Fond enough to cover up for him? You might think he does it because he's fond of you too. Maybe you think that because he stands up for you it isn't wrong to let him kiss or touch you but it is, Rose. And if he was, it wouldn't be your fault."

I leapt up. Okay this bitch was going to get it. Let's see how much trouble I can get her in for traumatising a student.

"Oh my GOD! You think he did it, you think I'm lying!" I heard voices out in the corridor. Dimitri's and Alberta's if I wasn't mistaken. Excellent; it couldn't have worked out better if I planned it.

Deirdre reached out to take hold of my arms, presumably in an attempt to calm me down and I threw them up in front of me to break her grip.

"Get AWAY from me!" I shrieked, loudly enough to be heard in the corridor. The voices stopped.

I stormed out of the room with my head down, deliberately pushing between Dimitri and Alberta as I passed and as I had anticipated, Dimitri caught my shoulders.

"Roza, what's wrong?"

"Just get her away from me." I told him keeping my head down and standing as close to him as I could get away with so that no one could see my face. I adjusted my breathing so that it hitched a little and made my shoulders tremble slightly so it looked like I was crying and tried valiantly to keep the smirk off my face.

I could hear Deirdre conversing with Alberta, explaining what had happened but omitting the part where she implied I was covering up for him.

"Rose, what's with the hysterics?" Alberta asked sternly.

Uh Oh. Tears were required or I would blow the whole act. Luckily Dimitri still had hold of me and I could pretend to be composing myself. Think sad thoughts, think sad thoughts. Lissa dead, Christian dead, Mason dead instead of just knocked out, Dimitri dead. Ah that did it. Tears welled up and I pinched myself hard till they overflowed. Now keep thinking sad thoughts, no smirking I instructed myself harshly before pulling back from Dimitri. Luckily my cheeks were quite flushed from anger so I appeared very upset.

"She said I was covering up for him and I was lying and that he was abusing me!" I shouted furiously.

Okay so maybe it wasn't strictly true and she had more like implied it rather than said it but still. She deserved it.

Something in Dimitri's eyes told me he knew I was faking the hysterical outburst but he played along slipping an arm round my shoulders and snapping something about not putting words in my mouth.

Alberta ran her fingers through her hair in exasperation and told Dimitri to escort me to the staffroom while she spoke with Deirdre. I leaned into the arm round my shoulders and glared at Deirdre before responding to the gentle tug he gave me.

As soon as we were around the corner he dropped the arm and glared at me.

"Want to tell me what that little act was all about?"

I shrugged. "It was true what she said. I just wanted to make sure everyone knew she was practically forcing a confession out of me."

He sighed irritably and pulled me down the corridor towards the staffroom.

"Look upset, will you. There'll be people in there."

I gave a convincing sniffle as we went inside.

We didn't have to wait long for Alberta and I could tell she was a little annoyed with the whole thing.

Which is probably why she chose that moment to drop the next bombshell.

"Rose, because this is a matter concerning your welfare, we had to contact your mother. She will be arriving tomorrow."

I let loose another expletive and let my head drop into my hands. Of all the things I didn't need.


	4. Chapter 4

Rose POV

Okay I was going to commit a murder before this day was out. I had hardly slept all night because I was worrying for Dimitri's life to say nothing of my own, when my mom arrived later today and I had gotten a real reaming out from Alberta over my "Appalling behaviour towards my counsellor who was just trying to do her job." Apparently my faked outburst had upset her. Good.

It was just a shame Alberta and Dimitri didn't follow my line of reasoning. I had been shoved onto another counsellor and told in no uncertain terms that if I didn't co operate things would be ten times more difficult for both me and Dimitri.

On top of all that I had to deal with the rumours started by some cretin who had overheard two guardians talking about the investigation and in the space of 9 hours I had gone from a suspected kissing to having sex doggie style on the practise mats or being raped by my mentor and then covering for him depending on who you asked.

Don't I wish! Chance would be a very fine thing but we weren't being left alone together for more than 30 seconds at a time and there were whispers and sniggers every time we stopped to speak in the halls.

All our practice sessions were being monitored by whoever was free at the time and the training rooms which had once felt like a sanctuary from whatever was worrying me was starting to feel like a goldfish bowl.

Walking down the hallway I heard a voice behind me calling out.

"Rose! Hey Rose! What's the hurry?"

Jesse fucking Zeklos. One of the last people I felt like seeing right now. I kept walking ignoring him but he dodged round in front of me to block my path.

"You didn't answer my question. What's the hurry?" He wore a smug smirk which tipped me off that he was going to come out with something that left me no alternative other than to punch him so I shoved roughly past him.

"I'm late for training. Your question isn't exactly top priority for me right now."

His smirk grew bigger. "Well I won't keep you then. What's he teaching you today? Doggy style or sixty-nine? Don't you think its kind of weird getting off on being raped?"

The shock of what he had just said in front of everyone only registered for a split second before my fist made acquaintance with his jaw, sending him sprawling. I turned and walked away towards the gym.

As I walked the numb feeling began to wear off and I realised my hand was hurting like hell. Most of what my knuckles had caught was bone; should have gone for the nose instead. Not that it would have made much difference I figured looking at my already bruised hand. Not with the amount of force I used. I didn't actually remember deciding to hit him; it had been more of a reflex.

My eyes were prickling with tears and I quickly wiped them away with my uninjured hand. I hadn't cried since being on the jet after Spokane when I found out Mason was still alive. I forced them back with a will knowing that I would probably end up bawling in my room all through dinner. But I'd be damned if I let anyone see me cry. I wasn't giving Jesse the satisfaction of hearing that his words had gotten to me.

I entered the gym 15 minutes late immediately drawing concerned expressions from Dimitri and Stan who was obviously observing today.

"Sorry I'm late." I muttered at Dimitri, my voice cracking slightly.

"Rose, what happened?" He asked, looking worried as he approached and took hold of my wrist to examine the hand I had been holding to my chest. He swore in Russian as he saw the bruising and immediately went for the first aid kit.

"Who did you hit?"

"Jesse Zeklos." I replied quietly, trying to keep my voice steady. I was NOT going to cry in front of Stan. He was such a sadistic bastard, he'd probably enjoy it.

"Why?" Dimitri didn't sound mad, just curious.

"He said some stuff. The whole schools talking about us you know? They're all saying I'm a whore."

I didn't add what I had heard in the cafeteria that morning. A Moroi girl had been talking about it with her friends and had actually said that I had probably asked to be raped going to practice in such slutty clothes. That was another of the rumours going around. That Dimitri had just raped me and I had enjoyed it and covered up for him. I was really hoping he hadn't heard that one yet and that the other guardians would put a stop to it before he did.

I realised Dimitri was waiting for an answer. He had obviously asked me something while I had been wallowing in misery. Seeming to know that I hadn't heard the first time around he repeated his question while pressing gently on my knuckles and feeling to see if I had broken anything.

"What kind of stuff?"

I hesitated, glancing at Stan who was standing nearby also looking a little concerned.

I shook my head. "I don't want you to hear it. Don't worry though; he won't be saying it again. I think I broke his jaw." This didn't seem to have the reassuring effect it was supposed to. If anything he looked even more worried.

Stan spoke for the first time. "I've heard some of the rumours and they aren't pleasant, Belikov. The students have very sick little minds; its probably best you don't hear them; for the sake of health and safety."

Dimitri squeezed my good hand firmly. "Don't let them get to you. It'll be fine; no one with any say around here actually believes all this stupidity."

I nodded and took a deep breath trying to stead myself. I hadn't been this close to tears since our little rendezvous on the roof and the urge to throw my arms round his waist and hide my face was surfacing again. I shook it off and straightened up. "Its okay, I'm okay. We should train."

Dimitri shook his head. "Not with that hand. Wait till the bruising goes down and we'll train then."

I wanted to protest but it wouldn't have done any good. Instead I got up and grabbed my jacket.

Dimitri followed me saying something to Stan about walking me back to avoid any more punch ups.

We walked in silence most of the way back to my dorm before Dimitri spoke.

"What time is your mother arriving?"

I shrugged. "Not sure. A few hours maybe."

"Meet me on the roof in an hour if you want to talk. We aren't going to get any privacy anywhere else."

I gave him an impish smile. "When you say talk..."

"I mean words Roza, actual talking." He smiled though and my stomach did a little nervous flipflop.

He dropped me off at the entrance to my dorm and thankfully I didn't run into anyone on my way up. My happy glowy feeling didn't last long though. I stepped into my room to find a very pissed off Lissa sitting on my bed.


	5. Chapter 5

Rose POV

Oh, shit. Oh major shit. She will have heard everything by now. Every single rumour and she's gonna kill me when she finds out I've been keeping something this big from her.

"Liss, whatever you heard..."

"You told me you were a virgin and now I find out you've been doing it DOGGIE STYLE in the gym with your MENTOR!" She shrieked so loud half the school probably heard her.

I stared at her in shock for a moment before bursting out laughing. It was only a moment before she started laughing too. I moved to sit next to her on the bed, wiping tears of mirth from my eyes.

"I suppose I should be glad that's the worst you heard."

She shook her head dismissively. "Oh I heard the rape stuff too but I knew that was all rubbish. Dimitri isn't like that and neither are you. And I told that to anyone who would listen."

I actually welled up at her words, it was such a relief to know there was someone who wouldn't look at Dimitri and me with suspicion and knew he wasn't like that.

I told Lissa everything including my Oscar worthy performance with the counsellor which she found hysterical and I was actually feeling better by the end of it. Talking to Lissa put everything in a little more perspective and I felt a lot more capable of dealing.

I finally remembered to look at my watch and realised that Dimitri would already be up on the roof waiting for me.

"Hey, Liss, I need to take off. I promised Dimitri I would meet him so we could talk all this shit through and he'll be waiting for me. I'll catch you later okay."

After I left Lissa's room my buoyant mood started to sink. Everywhere I went people were looking and whispering or even shouting out lewd comments and I hadn't realised until now just how emotionally draining it was. I managed to get up to the roof without being seen pretty easily and as I expected Dimitri was already there sitting in the same place as before.

He looked up and smiled as I approached and sat next to him. Seeing my face he wrapped an arm round my shoulders and hugged me against his side.

"You okay?"

I nodded but inside I was seriously starting to doubt my ability to cope with all this as it was let alone go a few rounds with my mom when she arrived.

Sighing I turned my attention back off my problems and onto Dimitri. And immediately wished I hadn't. He was wearing another one of those sweaters that fit him so well it should come with a warning label and made me want nothing more than to rip it off him. Unfortunately I didn't think that would go down too well at the moment so I dragged my eyes with some difficulty to his face. Which just made me want to kiss him and that was also off limits at the moment. There was just no winning here so I looking at the view of the campus instead.

We sat there for several minutes without speaking as I leaned into his side, enjoying the contact. Finally he spoke.

"Are you going to tell me what these rumours are before I find out from someone else or do I have to go and ambush a student?"

I hesitated, knowing he was going to be angry when he heard but didn't see any other option but to tell him the truth.

"People are saying that you raped me and that I enjoyed it and covered up for you."

It all came out in a rush and I started to panic when he didn't respond.

"Dimitri? Are you okay?"

He turned suddenly and pulled me into a crushing hug. I returned it tentatively, tightening my grip when I realised I could feel him shaking. I held onto him tightly feeling tears pricking at my eyes again, praying he wasn't about to lose it and break down on me. I didn't think I could handle coping for the both of us. Thankfully he didn't and pulled back after a few minutes. His eyes were bright but he wasn't crying and his face was pale.

"I'm going to bloody kill those kids." He muttered before letting loose with a string of Russian that for once I was glad I couldn't understand.

I glanced at my watch and remembered dimly that my mother would be here soon. It didn't matter. I wrapped an arm around Dimitri as best I could and leaned my head on his shoulder. We sat like that for a few minutes before he calmed down a little and pulled me into his lap. This position I was happy to stay in for as long as possible and it was nearly an hour before I reluctantly rose and turned towards the skylight nearest us to check if there was anyone in sight. Seeing that there wasn't I turned back to Dimitri.

"Can we go back in without you assaulting anyone?"

He managed a faint smile at that. "I think so, provided they keep their mouths shut. I might have to put the fear of God into a few of them though."

"Fear of the sexy Russian God." I muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing!" I blushed furiously and indicated the skylight. "You first."

We got back into the academy without incident but we weren't halfway down the third corridor when I heard the voice behind me.

"BELIKOV!"

Dimitri turned white again.


	6. Chapter 6

I jumped a mile at the sound of the voice behind me and looked worriedly at Dimitri who seemed to relax when he saw who it was that had shouted.

Alberta was hurrying up the corridor behind us looking thoroughly stressed out.  
“I’ve been looking for you everywhere!” 

“What’s wrong?” Dimitri asked sounding a little concerned at Alberta’s tone.  
“Janine Hathaway is on her way in; she should be here by lunchtime. 

You and Rose can’t have any contact until after she sees her and we set the record straight. Rose you have to see another counsellor and actually co operate with this one.”

I considered protesting but Dimitri’s hand on my shoulder kept me silent and I just nodded.  
Alberta and Dimitri exchanged a few more pleasantries and then Alberta said she would escort me to counselling. I guess she didn’t trust me to go if I was left to my own devices.

Dimitri squeezed my shoulder and said he would see me at training that evening if things with my mother went well. 

“And, Rose?” He shouted after me as I left.  
I turned back.  
“What?”  
“Try not to traumatise this one, the counsellors really are trying to help you. It’s not their fault you don’t need it.”

I just about made it through counselling, though I did seriously consider the merits of faking a heart attack and getting sent to the clinic just to get away from her probing questions. This one was a lot harder to scare off than the last and it annoyed me that I couldn’t just glare and she would change tack.

Her name was Laura, she was Moroi and had a sort of softly spoken look about her. On meeting her I had wrongly assumed that she would be a pushover but I now found that I was woefully mistaken.

Laura was like a dog with a bone. In particular she seemed interested in pursuing the topic that had 'Triggered my outburst' with Deirdre.

“So how would you describe your relationship with Guardian Belikov? You're certainly defensive of his honour.”

I hesitated wondering how to reply. I could think of any number of hilarious answers I could give but knew I had to toe the line with this one if I wanted any chance of clearing Dimitri.

“I dunno.” I shrugged, uncomfortable. “We're close I guess. I mean not like all touchy feely but if I was in trouble or something happened I could tell him.”

Her face was inscrutable and I wondered if I had revealed too much or looked guilty. After a second she nodded and wrote something down.

“That's good, Rose. It's good that you feel you can go to him with any problems. Does he ever tell you things? Confide in you?”

I shrugged again, well aware that shrugging was a defensive mechanism and I was doing way too much of it.

“He tells me some stuff. I mean I know where he grew up and his sisters names, stuff like that. I wouldn't say he confides in me though.” 

I was fairly confident of that one. I made it as though Dimitri and I were friendly but not anywhere near relationship status. Laura didn't notice my expression of relief thankfully as she scribbled more notes into her little blue notebook.

“How about your mom? How's your relationship with her?”  
I figured she already knew the answer to that one so I didn't bother pussyfooting around it.  
“We don't get on but you probably already knew that. Basically she's a huge disappointment to me and I am to her. He career was more important to her than bringing up her kid so she palmed me off on the Academy and now she doesn’t like the result.” I shrugged. “Not my problem.”

Laura regarded me calmly.  
“Again you're very defensive. There's nothing wrong with not getting along with your mom, you know.”

I glared at her, unable to formulate a response.

She took the hint and changed tack.  
“What do you do in your training sessions? Do you Spar much?”

“Some.” I replied cautiously, knowing that if I let my guard down she would try and verbally trip me. Get me to slip up and confess that something had happened.

“Do you like Sparring? Is it something that you're comfortable with? There must be quite a lot of bodily contact.”

I couldn't believe she had the audacity to say it like that. Breathe, Rose, you promised not to traumatise this one. That includes telling her that you love the Sparring because it gives you a chance to test the limits of Dimitri's control and jump him.

“The Sparring's fun. Contact with Dimitri isn't something that bothers me. I trust him totally, he's never try anything even if he wanted to, which he doesn't.” I knew my voice had adopted a steely tone and was very cold but seriously, why should I try to be polite. She was hardly even trying to veil the insinuations.  
“So nothing untoward has ever happened during your training? Guardian Belikov has never had any...inappropriate reaction to the training.”

It was delicately worded but I knew what she meant and fixed her with a cold stare.  
“I don't know how you can even say that with straight face! Have you met the guy?!”  
I had been about to say that I had never met anyone so sexually repressed but realised that it might pose the question of how exactly I had come to that conclusion. I shut up.

She sighed.   
“Alright, Rose, I think we're done here. You can go but I have been asked to remind you to avoid contact with Guardian Belikov as much as possible until this matter is resolved.”

I didn't even dignify that with a response and just left the room, shutting the door behind me with a satisfying bang.

There wasn't much point in going to class what with it already being half over so I took great pleasure in defying the express wishes of the higher ups and going to find Dimitri. He wasn't hard to find. Unfortunately he was where a lot of Guardians were at this time of day. The staffroom.

I ended up just knocking and asking the Guardian who opened the door if I could speak to him. He took pity on me, maybe because of the truly pathetic look on my face and said I could have two minutes. Dimitri came out a moment later, closing the door behind him.

“Rose, what are you doing? You know you aren't supposed to have any contact with me until your mother gets here and gives the go ahead.”

I shook my head, suddenly feeling choked up. Dimitri sighed.  
“Roza... What am I going to do with you?”  
I had some pretty good ideas but none I could talk about in a public place. Instead I just stayed silent until Dimitri took a quick look around before pulling me into a hug. He rocked us gently back and forth for a moment before letting go.

“Its going to be okay, you know.” He squeezed my shoulders and stepped back. “Go back to class, Roza; take your mind off it all. Your mother will be here soon and we can get this straightened out.”

I watched him go back into the staffroom before walking back down the corridor and heading up to my room. I knew I was going to cop it later for all these missed classes but right now I didn't care. I just wanted to be on my own and get my head straight.

The lunch bell rang and I groaned. She would be here any time now. Time to face the music.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry about the double spacing in this one. Ao3 was not playing ball when I was trying to paragraph it and for some reason my formatting never carries over.

I made my way down to Kirova's office, knowing it was only a matter of time before I was called in and just wanting to get it over with.

 

Dimitri was already there when I arrived, sitting in a chair in front of the desk and looking distinctly uncomfortable. He forced a smile for me when I came in and sat net to him but it soon faded and we just sat there in awkward silence. It felt strange. Silences with Dimitri were never uncomfortable. Loaded with sexual tension, sure but never uncomfortable. Even Kirova didn't seem to know what to say.

 

It felt like we had been sitting there forever when I heard the loud slamming of a door hitting a wall followed by the sound of loud angry footsteps coming down the hallway towards the office.

 

I winced as the footsteps drew closer and judging by Dimitri's concerned look I knew I must have gone white as the door opened and my mother walked in.

 

I visibly shrank from her as she entered the office but she looked surprisingly calm if a little irritated.

 

She gave me a seriously annoyed look and sat down in front of the desk.

  
“Would you care to tell me what all this is about? I received a message asking me to come here as soon as possible and that there was some concern regarding conduct between Rose and Guardian Belikov.”

 

Kirova looked seriously uncomfortable and asked Dimitri to leave the room while she spoke to us.

 

I tried to subtly shift away from my mother as Kirova told her what had been going on and her face grew more and more thunderous.

 

She slowly turned towards me and I fought not to cower under that stare.

  
“Rose, is any of this true?”

 

I shook my head violently and prayed that Dimitri wouldn't decide to come clean when it was his turn to be interrogated.

 

“Rose, if I find out that you're protecting him... Its an abuse of trust not to mention his position as your mentor!”

 

“I'm not, mom, I swear nothing happened. He didn't do anything, he would never force me into anything.” Well at least the second part was the truth, I thought dryly. He certainly didn't force me.

 

She obviously didn't believe me and she wasn't letting it go.

 

“Well, why would one of your classmates lie? Why dream up something like that, just to get you in trouble? Its rather extreme, Rosemarie, even you have to admit that! And you're trying to tell me that there isn't a single grain of truth in it?”

 

“There's not, I promise!”

 

I didn’t feel too much guilt over lying to her. Not as little as she bothered about me. Not like she ever would have visited if she hadn’t been summoned here to yell at me anyway.

 

After leaving the office I waited round the corner instead of going back to my lessons. I was pretty sure there would be hell to pay for it later but it wasn't like I was going to be able to concentrate.

 

Dimitri was in with Kirova and my mother for almost an hour. When he came out I waited until he was out of sight of the office before waylaying him. He looked tired and strained but tried to smile at me.

 

“Its okay. They believe us.” He told me.

  
“But we will have to be VERY careful about how we behave with each other for a while. No unnecessary touching or private conversations. They are going to be watching us both like hawks.”

 

I nodded and breathed a sigh of relief.

  
“So, we're in the clear?”

  
“ For now. Don't get cocky though, there's still a lot of suspicion among your classmates and if there were to be another complaint we'd be screwed.”

 

I totally wanted to hug him in that moment. Just hold him and never let go but there were far too many risks involved. We were going to have to be even more careful that we had been before and I knew it was going to kill me when all I really wanted to do was scream it from the skylights.

 

It was going to be a rough last year until graduation.

 

 

~~~•∞•≈•≤ ≥•≈•∞•~~~~~~•∞•≈•≤ ≥•≈•∞•~~~~~~•∞•≈•≤ ≥•≈•∞•~~~~~~•∞•≈•≤ ≥•≈•∞•~~~

 

 

Over the next few weeks things settled into a comfortable and familiar routine. My mother had stayed a couple of days before returning to Lord Szelski and things around the academy were starting to improve a little. I no longer felt as though I was living in a goldfish bowl although there was still a lot of gossip, rumour mongering and whispering behind hands. I couldn't help the feeling that it wasn't really over, though. That this was only the eye of the storm and it would return with a vengeance.

 

  
Our combat teacher was out on personal time and Dimitri had been asked to substitute for the day as there were no other tutors available to cover the class and he really seemed to enjoy working out his frustrations on the class. Pretty much all the students, the gossipy ones in particular, had their asses handed to them and left the classroom wincing and complaining their way to the infirmary to get some witch hazel for their bruises.

 

  
I hung back a little to talk to Dimitri, making sure to leave the door open and keep a desk between us at all times in case someone looked in.

 

“You looked like you were enjoying that.” I commented, holding back a smile.

 

He looked a lot more relaxed, as though hitting some of the gossipers under the guise of a lesson had been somewhat therapeutic for him.

 

He grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck.

  
“Would it make me a horrible person if I said that I did? Or that I could flatten them all day and not get bored?”

 

I grinned back and reached across the desk to poke him.

  
“No, it just makes it really hard for me to not jump you.”

  
For a moment I thought he was going to come around the desk and kiss me but then he got a hold on himself and pushed me gently out of the door.

  
“Get to class, heathen girl!” He joked. He glanced around to make sure no one was nearby and quickly dropped a kiss on my lips. I tried to pull him closer but he drew away looking a little nervous and ushered me out of the small side corridor and into the main one.

  
Sighing, I went to my next class wanting him more than ever.


	8. Chapter 8

I was just about starting to relax. No one of any importance had so much as looked askew at Dimitri or I for over a week and I was down to one fight per day or none if it was a particularly good day and there had been a lot of teachers around.

On the down side it was harder than ever to get any time alone with Dimitri and I was seriously wondering if I would go crazy if I didn't see him soon. On the really up side, I was getting a lot of filthy looks from Jesse, whose jaw had turned an attractive mix of yellow and purple.

It wasn’t until later that evening that I spotted my chance. I walked past the wing where the guardians quarters were and saw that the desk where the On Duty guardian usually sat was empty. I figured he had probably gone for a drink or to the bathroom or something. Wherever he was, it wasn’t in my way.

I slipped behind the desk and pressed the door release button to let me through to the staircase. The little buzzer nearly gave me a heart attack and I dived through the door and up the stairs feeling like my heart was about to break my ribs, it was beating so hard.

I hardly dared to breathe the entire time I was sneaking around the corridors looking for Dimitri's room. I knew I would get in serious trouble for being up here and there was no explanation I could give that would avoid dumping the both of us in some boiling hot water.

Finally I found his room and knocked quickly, praying he was there and would answer right away before I was busted. Thankfully the door opened only a couple of seconds later and his expression immediately registered shock.

“Rose?!” He grabbed my arm without waiting for a response and yanked me inside, closing and locking the door.

“What are you doing?! How the HELL did you get up here? What were you THINKING?!” He veered off into a stream of Russian that even I could tell was not a declaration of undying love.

“I wanted to see you.” I admitted, feeling the blood rush to my cheeks.  
“There was no one on duty at the desk and I didn’t exactly think about getting caught.” Looking at it now I could see his point. I had risked a hell of a lot just for a visit.

He let out a sigh and sank down onto the edge of his bed. 

“Great. Now I have to figure out how to smuggle you out again.”

Here came the guilt. I hadn’t thought about getting out again. The guardian would be back on duty by now and there was no way I could sneak past him.

I went to sit next to Dimitri and gave his shoulder a little push.   
“Sorry.” I offered, feeling guiltier by the second.  
He smiled slightly at me and shook his head.

“This is possibly in the running for the stupidest thing you've ever done but it doesn't mean I'm not glad to see you.

He was glad to see me? Okay, that made me feel a lot better about the shit maybe hitting the fan. I shifted a little closer to lean into him and he rested an arm across my shoulders.

“I'm teaching your combat class again tomorrow. You want to help me come up with a good lesson?” He asked with a small grin.

“You mean help you come up with new ways to accidentally injure them?”  
“Naturally.” He replied, leaning back to grab a few sheets of paper.

I didn’t contribute a hell of a lot to the lesson planning. I was too busy watching him. The way he frowned a little and occasionally bit at the corner of his lip when he was deep in thought.

It made me want to kiss him until that frown disappeared and tomorrows combat lesson was the last thing on his mind. I gave myself a mental slap and instructed my inner slut to get a damn grip already.

Turning my attention back to what he had been saying I realised that he was waiting for a response to something he had apparently said. I had no idea what the conversation had even been about.

Before I could talk myself out of it or common sense could prevail, I leaned up, impulsively and kissed him.

He stiffened in surprise but it was only a moment before I felt him respond. His arms slid behind my back and I felt his fingers in my hair.

We kissed for several minutes and when I was finally forced to come up for air I noticed that we had somehow ended up horizontal on the bed and my hands had wandered under his shirt to explore his chest and shoulders. And a very nice chest it was too.

I looked up at him half hoping he would just continue even though the rational part of me was screaming something about at least one of us having some sense. He was as breathless as I was and his eyes had darkened with something I hadn't seen in them before.

“We need to stop.” He said regretfully, running a hand down my bare back. Apparently my shirt had gotten pushed up a bit too.  
“I have to get you back downstairs, its already way after curfew.”  
“I could just stay here for the night.” I suggested, only partly joking and hoping he would say yes.

To my disappointment he shook his head.

“Too risky, I shouldn't have let things get this far.”

The only reason I didn’t push him off in a huff right then was because his hips were still resting against me and I could feel how much he wanted to carry on and how much it was costing him to stop.

He sighed and sat up, running a hand through his hair. I couldn't resist a quick glance down and immediately wished I hadn't because I knew that I was never going to be able to fight him again without the memory driving me to distraction. He saw me looking and his eyes met mine with a smile. Before either of us could say stuff the risks and get carried away again, something happened that doused us both like a bucket of ice water.

There was a loud rap on the door and Alberta's voice called out.

“Belikov? You in there? I need to run over this rota with you, we've had to reshuffle a bit.”

Swearing under his breath, Dimitri grabbed my arm and pushed me into the bathroom, pulling the door to. He went to the door and opened it. I heard him tell Alberta he wasn’t feeling too great and was just getting into bed and she said something about discussing it in the morning.

When he came and let me out of the bathroom I'm pretty sure my face was as white as his. We were both seriously shaken by the near miss and he went over to his bedroom window.

Leaning out to check if it was all clear, he motioned me over.

“There's a flat roof about 7 feet down. I'll lower you as far as I can. Walk along the ledge to the right until you reach the big air con unit. You can climb up on it and get onto the roof outside the Moroi dorms. God knows what you're going to tell Lissa but its the only way to get you back to your room.”

I was about to protest before I realised he was right. I climbed over the frame and as promised, Dimitri lowered me as far as he could reach. I followed his instructions and quickly found Lissa's window. Cursing the stupid design that put Dhampir dorms on the opposite side of the building, I knocked lightly. It was a good job she didn’t have a roommate.

She let me in and immediately wanted to know what the hell I was doing out there.

“Sneaking out of Dimitri's room, Lissa, I have to get back to my room before someone catches me!”  
“What! I thought you weren't...are you still...? TELL ME!” She almost screeched it and I clamped a hand over her mouth. 

“Shhh! I swear, I'll tell you everything in morning, I promise.”

I made it back to my room with my heart pounding and adrenaline rushing, both with the near discovery and with the excitement of what we had almost done. There was no way I was sleeping tonight. I couldn't wait for combat class.

~~~•∞•≈•≤ ≥•≈•∞•~~~~~~•∞•≈•≤ ≥•≈•∞•~~~~~~•∞•≈•≤ ≥•≈•∞•~~~~~~•∞•≈•≤ ≥•≈•∞•~~~


End file.
